by KL Hughes
“Yes, actually,” she replied, and, had it been anyone else, she might have actually moved to introduce everyone, but this was Elliot. She knew the man did not care beyond gaining more gossip material, which meant he was only interested in one of Elena’s companions—Allison.
“I see,” he said, smirking. He then pointed to Allison. “And who’s this?”
Elena sucked in a sharp breath through her nose. Her jaw remained rigid as she grit her teeth before straightening her back, readjusting Lucas on her hip, and moving closer to Allison. “This is Allison,” she said, hesitating only a moment before adding, “my partner.”
She felt Allison stiffen beside her, and Elena bit the inside of her cheek. She hoped the term wasn’t too much too soon.
“Partner.” Elliot’s eyes flicked back and forth between them again. His gaze scanned down Allison once more, and then Elena nearly burst into flame as the man snickered softly.
Her stomach lurched and then bottomed out when she felt Allison practically concave beside her. She saw her shoulders slump out of the corner of her eye, deflating. Elena wanted to scream, mentally damning Elliot to all kinds of hell.
“Well,” Elliot said. “I won’t hold you up.” He nodded at Elena. “Miss Vega.”
He disappeared around the end of the aisle.
Silence flooded the aisle for several long moments before Nora smacked her lips and drawled, “Well, he was quite the delight.”
Elena’s jaw hurt from clenching her teeth. She placed a hand on Allison’s arm but it was gently shrugged off as Allison took a shaky breath and quickly walked off.
“Allison, wait!” Elena quickly passed Lucas off to her mother before chasing after her.
She caught Allison a few aisles over. “Allison, please don’t go.” She grabbed her hands.
Allison avoided her eyes. “I wasn’t going to leave,” she said. “I just needed a minute.”
Elena’s eyes stung when before she could get a word out, Allison looked up at her and whispered, “It’s always going to be like this, isn’t it?”
“I’m so sorry,” Elena whispered.
“So am I.” Allison sighed. “People are always going to think you’re crazy for being with me. I mean, you saw the way he looked at me. You look like you just stepped out of a magazine. I mean, your clothes and your jewelry…everything about you screams money, but I look like I just walked out of the thrift shop, and that’s never bothered me. Not once in my life has that ever bothered me, but it did just now.” A quiet strangled sob escaped her, and she wiped hard at her eyes. “He laughed at the idea of us together, Elena. He laughed!”
Elena’s throat burned, and no matter how many times she swallowed, she never found any relief. Her chest felt tight. Her eyes welled with tears as she let go of Allison’s hands and cupped her cheeks instead. “I don’t care what he thinks,” she said. “That man is not worth your emotions or even a second thought. That was not about you. It was about me. I told you the man despises me.”
“But it’s not just him,” Allison argued, pulling Elena’s hands from her face. “Those people at your office looked at me the same way. People are always going to look at us like that, because you’re, you know, you, and I’m—”
“You are every bit as good as me.” Elena latched onto her again. “Look at me, Allison.”
Allison struggled against her hands for a second before sighing and relenting.
“You are every bit as good as me,” Elena repeated when Allison looked into her eyes. “Every bit, and please don’t ever let anyone make you feel otherwise.” She wiped at the tears escaping Allison’s glossy green eyes. “I don’t give a damn what he or anyone thinks. Do you hear me?”
Allison huffed and leaned into Elena’s palm, her hands coming up to gently grip her wrists. “Yeah, I hear you.”
A smile slowly stretched Elena’s lips. “I am so proud to be with you, Allison,” she said. “So proud.”
“Really?”
Elena nodded and kissed her lips. “Really.”
* * *
When Allison and Elena reentered the balloon aisle, Nora wrapped an arm around Allison’s back and squeezed her. “I believe Lucas has made a decision,” she said, and Allison appreciated that she didn’t bring up what happened with Elliot.
“Oh yeah?” Allison asked, leaning into Nora’s embrace as Lucas dove from his grandmother’s hip to Allison’s. “Which one, buddy?”
“That one!”
Everyone followed his finger, and Allison burst into laughter upon seeing it while Elena merely sighed and shook her head. It wasn’t a green balloon at all. It was a white balloon with a green dinosaur on it.
“Son, that balloon is not even green,” Elena said.
“Uh-huh! I want it.”
“Kid, I showed you that same green a minute ago and you said it was too dark,” Allison said.
“But this green is a dinosaur!” Because apparently that made all the difference in the world. “I want it!”
“Very well, Lucas.” Elena looked to her mother. “We should thank Vivian for beginning this obsession of Lucas’s.”
“Eh,” Allison said, shrugging. “The kid loves dinosaurs. Don’t most little boys?”
“Alson likes dinosaurs too,” Lucas sang, a large smile spreading over his lips.
“Yeah I do.” Allison high-fived him. “We play dinosaurs together a lot, don’t we buddy?”
“Yup!”
“Were you one of those young girls who preferred G.I. Joe’s to Barbies, dear?” Nora gave a small laugh. “Elena loved her Barbies.”
“I didn’t really get into either,” Allison said. “I didn’t have toys when I was a kid.”
“None?” Lucas Sr. asked. “Were your parents strict?”
Nora nudged him with her elbow, hard, and Allison chuckled as the elder woman pinned her husband with a glare. Face purpling, he cleared his throat.
“My apologies, Allison,” he offered, and Allison shook her head to dismiss the apology.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not something you guys have to tiptoe around, you know. People always seem to do that, and maybe it’s just because I don’t really talk about my time in the system, but you don’t have to. If you want to know things, just ask me. I’ll tell you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Elena whispered, reaching over to squeeze Allison’s hand that was wrapped around Lucas’s leg.
“It’s okay,” Allison said, shrugging and giving Lucas a small bounce. She took a deep breath and let it out in a soft sigh. “Anyway, there’s not a ton to tell. Like I said, I didn’t have toys. I never really had anything of my own. I remember a few stuffed animals but that’s it. The few group homes I spent some time in had toy chests, but most of the toys were broken. And I rotated families pretty often, so I never got much there either.”
Everything in the aisle drew her eye as she spoke, unable to really hold anyone’s gaze. Her throat felt too tight to speak but she labored through it. She wanted to share with these people, even the parts that were hard to talk about and even harder to recall.
“I had nine different families just by the time I was sixteen. They never felt like families to me, though. Family is supposed to be permanent, and they were all so temporary. No one ever kept me for long, because either they ended up having a baby of their own or I was too much of a troublemaker or the house was just overcrowded.” She swiped a hand down her face, lingering for a moment under her left eye. “So, yeah, anyway, I never really had any toys or a family, for that matter. I guess I was never very good at finding one.”
Nora’s fingers pressed tightly against Allison’s shoulder as she was pulled even closer to the woman. “You have found one now, dear.”
Eyes glossy but alight with affection, Elena stepped closer and wrapped her arm around Allison from the other side, Lucas tucked snugly between them. Her voice was slightly choked as she said, “You have.”
“Absolutely,” Lucas Sr. said with a firm nod.
Allison closed her eyes a moment and let those words sink in so deep that she knew they would always remain. Her breath released in a staggered sigh before she whispered, “Thank you.”
“Of course,” Nora said, giving Allison one last squeeze before stepping away and clapping her hands together. “Now, how about we place an order for some balloons? We are going to need more than what is available here.”
“Yes,” Elena said, clearing her throat and sniffling. “Could you and Daddy take care of that with the clerk, please?”
Nora nodded before she and her husband took off for the front of the store. Once they were out of sight, Elena slipped her hand into Allison’s and smirked. “So, tell me, what else have you learned in Spanish?”
“Uh, a few things. Mostly simple stuff like colors and some items and then, like, family terms. But there is one sentence I learned that I want to say to you.”
“Oh? And what is that, dear?”
Allison ducked her head. “I, uh, maybe now isn’t the best time or place.”
Smile widening, Elena’s tone turned lascivious. “Well, well, Miss Sawyer.”
Allison nudged her shoulder. “It’s not like that.”
“That’s a shame.” Elena clucked her tongue.
They stepped around the corner and into the next aisle. “Momma, I need these!” Lucas pointed to a package of green invitations.
Allison laughed. “Yeah, Elena, surely all the toddlers coming to the party would love some invitations that none of them can read.”
“I can read!” Lucas crossed his arms over his chest.
“Yes, dear, you have already learned to read many things.” Elena pointed to a word on one of the packages. “Tell Allison what this says.”
Lucas eagerly leaned forward so that Allison had to tighten her arm around him to keep him attached to her hip. “Um,” he said, scrunching his face up as he stared at the word.
“Sound it out, munchkin.”
“Ha—Hhhha…p…Happy!” He clapped his hands and turned wide eyes to his mother. “Is it happy, Momma?”
“It is! Well done, Lucas!”
He beamed at her before sticking his tongue out at Allison. “See?” Allison grinned despite Elena telling Lucas that it wasn’t nice to boast.
“I see, buddy,” Allison said. “Good job!”
Lucas leaned his head over and rested his forehead against Allison’s, one of his hands curling into her bun. “Alson, am I heavy?” He stared into her eyes from less than an inch away, pressing his face against hers.
Allison kissed the tip of his nose and shook her head against his. “Not at all.”
“But I’m a big boy.”
Allison and Elena both glanced to one another, sharing a smile that somehow felt intimate. “Yes, you are,” Allison agreed.
“So why I’m not heavy?”
“Why am I not, Lucas,” Elena said.
“Right,” he said. He then looked back to Allison, waiting for her answer.
“Um,” Allison muttered, contemplating what to say. She didn’t want to call the boy scrawny or skinny, because he might not like that. She patted a hand over his chest. “Because you’re a big boy in here, and big hearts aren’t heavy.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re full of love, kid.” She caught Elena’s eye for a moment and couldn’t help but blush a bit. “And love doesn’t weigh anything.”
“Even if there’s a lot?”
“Even if there’s a ton.”
Lucas quickly looked over at his mother for confirmation. “No matter how much love you have in your heart, it is always light as a feather,” Elena said, and Lucas narrowed his eyes.
“You sure, Momma?” he asked. “I got lots.”
“I know you do.” Elena tickled his belly and he giggled and squirmed in Allison’s arms. “You love Momma, don’t you?”
“Yup!”
“And Aunt Viv.”
“And Gram and Pop,” he said.
“That’s right.”
“That’s a lot of love, kid,” Allison said.
She then practically swooned as he leaned in and rested his head against hers again and said, “And Alson.”
Allison’s eyes instantly watered. She squeezed Lucas.
Elena smiled. “Yes, you love Allison.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. Wiping it away quickly, she smiled at Elena. “It’s crazy how that gets to me so easily.”
Elena stroked Allison’s cheek and nodded. “It does me as well, dear.”
Allison kissed Elena’s palm where it rested around her cheek before squeezing Lucas again. “I love you too, kid.”
“Well, this looks cozy.”
Nora and Lucas Sr. both stood at the end of the aisle watching them. Nora rolled her eyes, despite her smile. “My daughter is canoodling in the middle of the party supplies.”
“No one is canoodling, Mother.” Elena rolled her eyes in just the same fashion.
“Nah.” Allison laughed. “I was totally canoodling.”
“I like her,” Lucas Sr. told Elena.
Allison and little Lucas beamed while Elena smirked at her father. “So you’ve said, Daddy.”
“Well, some things need to be said more than once.” His voice was deep and cheerful. He then clapped his hands together and asked, “So, who is ready for lunch?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Allison burst into the dorm room, and Macy winced as the door slammed behind her. She was barely inside the dorm before she began to pace over the short length of the room.
“Uh,” Macy muttered as she watched this strange and slightly amusing behavior, “something on your mind there, mate?”
“I love her,” Allison blurted out, shaking her head and alternating between planting her hands on her hips and tugging at the bottom of her shirt.
“Come again?” Macy asked. She wasn’t quite yet fully awake, having slept a good part of the day away after a late night at the bar, post meeting Allison’s girlfriend. She sat up in her bed and reached to mute her rerun of One Tree Hill. Macy rubbed at her eyes and yawned as she asked, “Do I need coffee for whatever this is? Are you having a complete panic or just a partial one? Because it’s already almost five, so we can skip the coffee altogether and go straight for shots if we need to.”
“Elena!” Allison snapped, eyes wide but distant as if she was in some sort of trance or somewhere else entirely; most likely, she was just stuck inside her own head. “Elena,” she repeated. “I love her.”
“Yeah,” Macy said, shrugging. “I don’t mean to sound like an insensitive twat here, Alli, but well, duh.”
“No, no, no,” Allison babbled as she crossed over to Macy’s bed. She plopped heavily down onto the mattress and pinned her with wide emerald eyes full of both panic and thrill. “I mean, I love love her, Mace. Like, I’m 99.999…oh hell, I’m one hundred percent sure that I am in love with her.”
“Yup,” Macy said, popping her lips loudly.
Allison’s eyes bugged as she exclaimed, “That’s it?” She threw up her hands. “I tell you that I’m actually in love, repeat in love, with Elena Vega, and all you have to say is ‘yup’?”
“Um,” Macy said, “please refer to my previous answer of ‘duh’. It’s more suited to this situation anyway.”
Allison stared at her, blank-faced, and Macy burst into laughter. “You knew?” Allison asked, smacking her roommate’s shoulder roughly. “You knew how I felt even before I knew how I felt? How is that even possible?”
“Well, Alli, that would be because I have functioning eyes,” Macy teased, “as well as common sense and excellent deductive reasoning skills.”
Allison smacked her shoulder again.
“Ow!” Macy pushed playfully at Allison’s arm and leg in retaliation. “Don’t beat me up just because I know you better than you know you.”
“How long have you known?”
Macy grinned as she scooted backward and bundled back under her cove
rs. “Oh, let’s see?” she said. “I would say that I’ve known ever since you were like, ‘Elena and I are just friends, Macy!’”
Allison smacked a hand to her face. She then slid her hand up and cradled her forehead in her palm. “Oh God,” she groaned. “What the hell am I gonna do?”
Through the covers, Macy nudged Allison’s thigh with her foot. “What do you mean?” she asked. “You’re going to keep doing what you’re doing, and just love the woman.”
“But—”
“No,” Macy said, shaking her head against her pillow. “No buts, Alli. I know your automatic response to those gross and terrifying things known as feelings is to completely freak out and run away, but you don’t have to. You don’t have to do anything, okay? Just because you love Elena doesn’t mean you have to suddenly change or act differently. You don’t have to be anything or anybody but yourself. That’s kind of the whole point, mate.”
Allison stretched out on Macy’s bed, throwing her legs over the blanketed lump of Macy’s own and resting her back against the wall. “You’re the best friend ever.”
“I know,” Macy said. “So, I’m guessing you had some wicked sex last night since you burst in here with frantic declarations of love spewing out of your face.”
“Yes, yes I did,” Allison admitted. “And then we went out with her parents today to shop for party supplies for Lucas’s birthday party.”
Macy shifted so she could see Allison’s face better. Smirking, she quirked a brow at Allison. “A family outing, eh?”
“Yup.”
“I see, and how was that?”
Allison stared off into the empty space of the room for a moment, and Macy watched as a smile worked its way onto Allison’s lips. “Weirdly amazing,” Allison finally answered after a moment.
“Wow,” Macy said. “I feel like I should be documenting this moment.”
Allison snorted with laughter and smacked Macy’s thigh. “Probably,” she agreed. “It’s true, though. I mean, her mom is tough, but she’s also…I don’t know. She hasn’t ever looked at me or talked to me like I was less than her or less than her daughter. They just accept me, you know? They called me family today.”